Man treated for mucormycosis in private hospital in Chennai

Delay in seeking treatment left him blind in one eye and almost endangered his life, the doctors said.

A 49-year-old man, who was affected with mucormycosis involving the brain and eye, was recently treated at a private hospital. Delay in seeking treatment left him blind in one eye and almost endangered his life, the doctors said.

Swamy (name changed), who was severely diabetic, had contracted COVID-19 several months ago. Soon, he began having problems with his sight and was diagnosed with rhino-orbital-cerebral syndrome owing to mucormycosis.

At a super speciality hospital, ENT surgeons operated on him, and he was discharged a fortnight later. But it did not relieve him of the pain. The man consulted several ophthalmologists without relief until he was referred to Krishna Eye and ENT Hospital in the city. At the hospital, a day care centre for endoscopic surgeries of head and neck, Ophthalmologist P. Kanthamani, who examined him, said he was in denial of COVID-19 infection though his chest CT scan indicated infection.

ENT surgeon and hospital founder G. Sundhar Krishnan, a specialist in skull base surgery, said the fungus had extended into his eye socket and brain from the nose, sinuses and adjacent structures, freezing eyeball movement.

“He was operated on twice earlier and given ampotericin B but did not improve. The disease further spread to the cavernous sinus, orbital fissure and skull base. I removed the fungus completely It was done as an outpatient procedure. He was treated post-operatively with ampotericin B with the help of an infectious diseases specialist,” Dr. Sundhar explained.

The specialist said he could not guarantee the return of sight, but managed to restore eyeball movement. “It has been almost four weeks now. He lost his sight two to three months before coming to us. The disease had spread. His life was also in danger. We gave him a guarded prognosis that we could clear the disease. The eyeball movement has returned,” he said.

“The optic nerve is very sensitive and any loss of blood supply will damage it quickly. We should treat it at the earliest. In this patient, we could not do much because he came very late. The discharge has stopped and there is no pain,” Dr. Sundhar added.